Ayorkor Botchwey holds trade, cooperation talks with Maltese President, Prime Minister, others   

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, who is also Ghana’s candidate for the Commonwealth Secretary-Generalship position at the organisation’s elections in October 2024, has as part of her efforts to deepen Ghana’s diplomatic engagements across the world, and to sell her message for the Commonwealth bid, held talks with high-ranking government officials of the European state of Malta.

Ms Ayorkor Botchwey on Monday, 15 July 2024, met with the President of Malta, Myriam Spiteri Debono, the Prime Minister, Robert Abela, and the Maltese Minister for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade, Ian Borg, at their offices in the capital city of Malta, Valetta.

Diplomatic engagements

In all three engagements, Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey reiterated the high value Ghana places on her relationship with Malta and the fact that relations between the two countries have grown over the last few years leading Malta (the Mediterranean archipelago) to establish its first diplomatic mission south of the Sahara in Ghana in January 2023.

The concept of an Africa beyond aid also featured strongly during Ms Botchwey’s discussions with the Maltese officials. She indicated that Ghana and the rest of Africa are now looking at strengthening trade relations with the rest of the world instead of receiving aid as has been the tradition.

“Trade and investments are very critical for creating jobs for our young people to help stem the tide of illegal migration. We need desperately to create opportunities for young people.  We don’t want them to leave Africa; we need strong advocacy for the interests of young people – in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific,” Ms Botchwey said.

Strong Ghana/Malta trade relations

The Maltese Minister for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade, Ian Borg, in his interaction with Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, pointed out that Ghana is an important trade partner to Malta and he is happy to say that all Maltese companies operating in Ghana are happy with the investment climate in the country as well as with the support they are receiving for their businesses.

“Ghana is an important partner for us. We have 24 companies that are doing business in Ghana.  They have no complaints; they’re happy,” the Maltese Minister for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade, Ian Borg told Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey.

Last year (2023), Mr Borg led a forty-five-member Maltese delegation, most of them investors, to Ghana when the Maltese government was opening its High Commission in Accra.  Ghana has had a High Commission in Malta since 2014. The Ghana mission is the only fully-fledged diplomatic mission of a country south of the Sahara in Valetta, the capital of Malta.

Focus on the youthful population

In Ms Botchwey’s meetings with Prime Minister Robert Abela and President Myriam Spiteri Debono, she further indicated that her vision for the Commonwealth will be to prioritise the development and empowerment of the youthful population of the 56-member organisation if elected as the Secretary-General in October.  Commonwealth currently has a population of about 2.6 billion people, nearly two-thirds of whom are below 30 years.

Ms Botchwey said the Commonwealth “could punch above its weight,” citing the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Health Worker Protocol, and the Highly-Indebted Poor-Country Initiative (HIPC) which gave relief to debt-stressed countries, as examples of what the Commonwealth was capable of doing.

Prime Minister Abela in his response to Ms Botchwey, agreed with her assertion on the need for increased trade, saying, “We should discuss Ghana and Africa in terms of trade and not aid.

“Unfortunately, Africa is often discussed in terms of migration.  I think we should see Africa in terms of mutual opportunities; the potential is there,” the Maltese Prime Minister said.

Climate change

The issue of climate change and its adverse impact on small islands such as Malta, stood out in Ms Botchwey’s meeting with President Myriam Spiteri Debono. Their discussion centred on the threat posed by climate change to small island states and others in the Pacific, and in the Caribbean where Hurricane Beryl recently left havoc in its trail.

“The Commonwealth can rally its members towards raising critical financing to help build resilience among these vulnerable states,” Ms Botchwey said.

She cited the Pacific Island nation of Kiribati whose highest point is a mere four metres above sea level, as an example of a Commonwealth country facing what she called an “existential threat.”  Ms Botchwey added that the collective voice of “our commonwealth” must be engineered to make a difference.

Ghana and Malta have exchanged state visits in recent years, with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo visiting Malta in 2019, and Ghana hosting President George William Vella in January this year 2024, four months before he retired and handed over to President Debono, 71, for five-year non-renewable term in office.

Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra

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